Elegance of a Bygone Era.

Saturday week I commenced planning a walk in Ipswich, Queensland's second largest city, just west of Brisbane, for the Hungry Hiker's. The walk was organised around a visit to a shadow puppet event at the Ipswich Art Gallery. Alas, my plans changed with my visit to Bundaberg, so I handed the gathered information to Hiker Leanne. The resulting outing left me wanting to retrace their steps, to see for myself Ipswich's wonderful old Queenslander style homes. 

I suggested to the Gaiter Girls that for our walk yesterday [Monday] this might make a great walk for us. We didn't exactly follow their route, but we did discover street after street of wonderful old homes. I believe we only scratched the surface of the stately homes out there.

 Over the years we have all driven through, or stopped in the city and observed the occasional lovely home, but by taking time to explore away from the city centre, we gained an appreciation for the city that was Ipswich in the latter half of the 1800's. A city that was so prosperous that it was delclared a municipality in March 1860 amd was strongly considered a candidate as the capital of Queensland. It was a wealthy city with productive coal and limestone industries and was a gateway to the rich interior pastoral industries.

1997 saw the last underground mine close and in 2007 there was only one open cut mine still working, resulting in Ipswich going through a period of economic uncertainty.  This, along with its extreme summer and winter temperatures compared to neighbouring Brisbane, made it less desirable until more recent years. 

Ipswich turned 165 years old in March. The local economy is now booming. Young families are now finding homes in Ipswich [alas, not in the homes we passed] and the the city boasts residents from 160 different countries. Thankfully the local government over the years has chosen to save its heritage in these old homes and we were amazed and relieved at how many have a Grade Two listing. Our eyes have been opened in many ways, from this outing.

It is a city of several steep hills.

Just a few of the Grade Two listed homes.

Growing up in the country, pumpkin was a staple of everyone's diet. Interesting to see it growing rampant on the fence of this home.

Such a variety of wonderfully loved homes, with beautiful gardens and on large blocks. It breaks my heart to see the size of today's housing estates.

Three of the cities churches.

After 10 kilometres of exploring, it was time to visit the lovely Kholo Gardens for morning tea and birthday celebrations.

I would love to read your comment.

Black Swans

 On Sunday morning I took the 4 hour journey from home to Bundaberg to visit my sister-in-law Gwen. Gwen [87], you may recall from my last post, was one of the special people I devoted my March Charge to. Her cancer is terminal, but this week is a good week, so I was relieved and amazed at how well she is looking. My brother Jim who went through cancer last year also visited from Townsville. Rhonette, Gwen's daughter, is staying with her.

I broke my journey at Gypmie, an old gold mining town, for a coffee. One of the main gold mining areas has been made into a beautiful park. Pulling over, I was thrilled by the number of black swans that have made this park their home. A fifteen minute break in the journey was all too soon an hour. I would have spotted at least 20 birds. 

It seemed to be a very lazy Sunday morning for them.

Magpie Geese and Black Swans

Nap time.

Many of the swans just sat as they fed. 

This couple waddled ever so slowly to the water's edge.

What a delight to see a mother swan and her 'ugly duckling', along with the Moorhens.

Further along the pond I found a much older cygnet with its family.

As I walked back to the car, the first mum and babe were leaving the pond and settled to rest on the grass in the shade of a tree.

I guess this will definitely be my coffee stop on my return journey tomorrow.

I would love to read your comment.

Cancer's 'March Charge' - 2025

Robyn and Michelle passed away early last year. Pamella and Gwen are fighting hard to beat the odds with the cancer they both have.

Thanks to the flood, this view over the previous 2 days, was just one lake of water.

Day 30 - only 6 km walked for a number of reasons. On my return I read this story of why a Mother was walking for her daughter. Heart breaking.

Day 31 and 16 km to reach my goal. I woke early and discovered I had reached my $2000 goal in donations. This was the impetus to get walking along the coastline  from Main Beach to Burleigh Heads. After some wet days, it was lovely to set off in sunshine and in the company [for 5 km] of Rachel, McGinty, Peggoty and baby Bobbity. 

The temperature had been 31C the previous day, so I welcomed the temperature drop of several degrees. Setting off at 6.30 am also helped. The coastline is still recovering from Cyclone Alfred. It wasn't possible to access the beach for a good 8 km because the erosion created high cliffs, that are now fenced off.

Looking back to my starting point.

I am so very grateful for all the support of both monetary and encouragement value. I only raised half of last year's total, but every dollar counts. Physically it wasn't as easy as last year, but I am now back into my early morning routine, which had lagged throughout summer.

17,531 paricipants from all over Australia.

$2,584,486 raised.

I've just spotted that in regard to these numbers, my distance ranking is 376th and fundraising total 126th.

I am feeling very gratified with my March Charge.

My apologies for not replying to all your lovely comments on my previous two posts. I do love reading them. Hopefully life will become a little less hectic now that the charge is over. 

Alas, I can't remove the big gap down to where you comment!

I would love to read your commnent.